Zas: Writers block?

Saria: Writers block…

Tori: Is it gone yet?

Saria: Not completely.

SA: So, what have we learned thus far because of this?

Saria: That Grimmjow/Ichigo pairings are REALLY hot and I seriously want to write one now!

Everyone except Saria: (slaps their hands across their faces)

Zas: Thank god you haven't even attempted to write a yaoi yet…

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Naruto groaned as she trekked her way back to Orochimaru's base, thoroughly not looking forward to seeing the place again, especially after what happened the previous night.

'Thank god Kyuubi gave me that bloodline though… Might not be very powerful but it will certainly be useful in spying and assassination missions,' she thought as she stopped before a tree, focusing on the color of it, then comparing her hand to the actual tree. 'I can only really copy the color though, so this is a skill best used at night, but Kyuubi did also say that as I practiced this would get better, so maybe I'd be able to maintain a pattern of some sorts to make it look more real.'

Breaking her concentration on the color, Naruto lowered her hand and continued toward the base, slowly shifting back into the snowy white coloring her skin had come to naturally take.

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Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Mariko placed the sealed scroll on top of Naruto's bed in Orochimaru's base.

Locating the base and breaking into it had been oddly simple, as had been finding Naruto's room. Then again, after leaving Iwagakure, one of the odd jobs she had taken was finding things for people and exchanging them for pay, she believed the proper term was "thief". But she didn't much care for that word, besides; the skills she had learned were useful.

"Alright, now I'm going back to Konoha and making Kakashi-kun treat me to dinner!" she exclaimed happily before skipping out of the room.

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One of the first things Naruto did after reentering the base of Orochimaru was head toward the medical center to return the leftover supplies she had gotten from Kabuto. She hadn't really gotten injured, so naturally she still had just about everything.

Upon entering the medical bay though, she saw that the silver haired medic was not there. Deciding that it would be rude to simply dump the stuff and leave, Naruto elected to wait for him to return. That didn't mean she couldn't look around though.

Stepping lightly through one of the few doors in the place, she found herself in a dark room that had a number of machines, most of them looking as though they were life support or monitors of some sort. And all of them were hooked up to a single solitary figure on a strange looking hospital bed whose head was covered by a seal. A single wisp of white hair though betrayed who it was.

'Thought so... This guy is sick, and probably dying. Why though?' Glancing at his bare chest, she spotted the cursed seal of earth, so much different from the cursed heaven seals that she and Sasuke bore.

'Why would Orochimaru make two different seals?' The question loomed over her head until she got a little closer to the figure, actually reaching her hand out to hover over the seal before she felt it. 'This seal is killing him!'

"It's you again, isn't it?" asked a slightly muffled voice. "Uzumaki Naruto, the girl who interests Orochimaru-sama."

Naruto fought back a wince that she felt rising because of his nonchalant attitude, the fact he wasn't even in the least bit unsure.

"Yeah, it's me. How did you know?"

"Because I remember what your chakra felt like, and you're the first person to come and visit me other than Kabuto. Even Orochimaru-sama doesn't come much anymore."

Naruto's eyebrows lifted slightly. She never expected that Orochimaru would visit ANYONE. Ever.

"I said something that surprises you." Yet another statement. Naruto really was beginning to feel as though she were bare before this one.

"Orochimaru isn't as bad as you seem to think. He doesn't think I know, but I do, his heart is bleeding. His heart has been bleeding for so long now and he won't let it heal."

'The snake-bastard has a heart?' "You gave yourself to him to try to help him heal, but you feel as though your sickness has torn up any good that you may have done."

"Yes" was the quiet reply. "You are highly observant, but I realize already that you couldn't do as I was about to ask."

"What do you mean?"

"I will pass on soon. I had hoped that you would carry on with what I tried, but I see that that is impossible. You don't really care for Orochimaru-sama, and it probably would be better if he were to pass on as well, while his soul still exists."

Naruto nodded slightly, fully understanding what was being asked of her. "I just have one question, and I think it may be for the best if you answer it."

A ghost white hand sought her own hand a second later, and she gently placed her hand into it.

"You want to know if Orochimaru-sama had anything to do with the Uchiha massacre, because you realize that aside from Orochimaru-sama himself and Kabuto, that I'm the most likely to know." A sad smile crossed the man's face and Naruto had to admit that she was taken aback by his insight. "He never had a hand in any of it. In fact, the day he found out, he flew into a rage, screaming of what he would do to the perpetrator. He had been hoping to make a deal with them in order to gain the Sharingan through a trade."

"But, that would be treason on the behalf of the Uchiha clan…" Naruto murmured. Close one door; open yet another can of worms…

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Kabuto returned to the clinic a few minutes later and Naruto made sure he was aware that she was back before heading back into the base, her objective: find Sasuke. Half of what they had come here about was solved, Orochimaru did not participate in the Uchiha massacre nor did he know who did the deed. Naruto contemplated whether or not she should tell Sasuke about the attempt of Orochimaru to make a deal with the Uchiha to gain the Sharingan, and found that she wouldn't keep it from him.

There was no doubt in her mind that Itachi would disapprove of this action, but she knew Sasuke better than him. Sasuke should know now so that later on, he wouldn't do something he would later regret.

'Besides,' she thought, 'after what happened last night, I'M the one who will kill Orochimaru.'

It wasn't surprising that Sasuke was in the training area. What was surprising was that he was there with the remaining two members of the Sound Four, the people that Naruto recognized as the ones that had held the barrier during the Sand/Sound invasion of Konoha. The two who lived were the dark pink haired girl with the flute and the one that looked as though he had two heads. Their companions, the six armed man and the really heavy set one, had died in custody in Konoha.

Naruto watched as the girl, Tayuya, did a summoning jutsu and called forth three demonic looking summons. The summons appeared to be controlled by her flute, more specifically, her finger movements. The one with two heads jumped back and… separated…

'Great, identical twins…' she thought as she watched them charge toward Sasuke. 'Hopefully that's a bloodline and not a jutsu so I don't have to watch Sasuke attempt it.' Naruto shivered in horror at the thought of Sasuke making a twin of himself: the fangirls in Konoha would go bonkers and start trying to make teams to win the twins over.

Sasuke went on the offensive straight away and started out with a Katon: Goukyaku no jutsu.

'Typical,' Naruto thought as she watched him then use the fireball to cover his approach, hoping to catch his opponents off guard.

Typical enough that neither of the two survivors of the Sound Four fell for the trap. The "twins" used a Doton jutsu to burrow under the ground and Tayuya sent her summons straight through the fireball at Sasuke, as she herself jumped up onto a tree branch above the action.

Sasuke may have been good, but experience won out on this round as he slammed straight into the first of the summons as they broke through the fireball.

At this point, Naruto decided to spare Sasuke the embarrassment of her watching him get his ass handed to him and left the training ground, opting to stand by the entry way and wait for him to exit. It didn't take longer than a few minutes, and though she would call Sasuke tough for their age, she knew he wouldn't be able to beat those two in a straight fight. So when he stepped out of the training area looking like he had just tried to wrestle a herd of rabid raccoons, Naruto simply rolled her eyes.

"So you're back," Sasuke stated when he caught sight of her.

"Yep. I found some stuff out. And I think you're going to need to sit down." Naruto stated as she turned and led the way towards her room.

"No holding anything back?" Sasuke queried as he caught up and walked along side of her.

"You should know already that I expect you to be able to listen and try to keep a level head, at least at the moment anyway," Naruto replied as they turned into the hall where her room was and she pushed open the door. "So, let's discuss chess."

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Tori: Another chapter.

Zas: Same requests as always.

SA: And for those of you who don't know what that would be…

Saria: It's quite simple.

All: Now that you've read it, review!